Turns out cursive is really good for your brain! Click here to view a quick video by Discovery News that shows some study results that show how good cursive is for your brain! Here are some highlights from the video:
- Cursive teaches the brain a functional specialization
- Cursive activates multiple areas of the brain at once
- Cursive improves fine motor skills because it’s more demanding (in terms of movement tasks) than print is
- Practices handwriting increases neural activity
- The broad range of letter shapes in cursive increases visual recognition skills
- Cursive engages students more in by giving them a better sense of style and giving them a sense of ownership over their own handwriting
- Cursive enhances creativity
I don’t know about you, but most times when I’m in a workshop or meeting and I’m given a handout, I instinctively write my name in the top right corner. You may laugh, but that’s the kind of automatic thing we want our students to do! I saw this idea on 
I know we’re not anywhere near Mother’s Day, but I wanted to share it with you while I had some time. I love those pages where kids write about their parents! They’re so sweet (and often hysterical!). I researched questions often found on these forms and made one with my favorite questions. Here you go:
Here’s a friendly letter template I put together recently. It would be perfect to use for Grandparents Day, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. This could be nice final copy paper for your students’ letters. Or it could be for any letter… a thank you letter, a pen pal letter, you name it. It’s pretty basic. Enjoy!
I recently made these Dolch sight words flash cards for pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade all using Microsoft Word 2013. It’s my new favorite thing! Click below for the front and back to the set you want to download:
Sometimes publishing a writing assignment on a special piece of paper adds some extra incentive and interest. Here’s a simple printable you can use for the final publishing step of a friendly letter assignment. Or if your kids like the idea of “from the desk of” letterhead, have them design their own.
The end of the year can be such a fun time… testing is over and summer is near! Thank heavens! But how to keep your students learning when they’d rather be at the beach? Here are some of my favorite ideas:
Squarehead Teachers 